This review contains spoilers
This was my first time playing through Halo: Combat Evolved in its entirety. I've booted this sucker up a few times over the years since I got the Master Chief Collection but only ever played the first couple levels. I have a hard time appreciating games that were revolutionary when they first released because I was but a wee babe at the time. So how does Halo: Combat Evolved hold up in the year of our Lord 2023? It’s alright. Halo: CE has moments when it's quite good but It’s definitely not good from the get go. Once you get past the halfway point the game actually starts to get fun and interesting. But man, that first half is boring.
Pros:
-The music is the real star of the show here. Whenever it came on during the first half of the game it managed to trick me into thinking I was playing an actually engaging game.
-Being able to swap between the original look of Halo CE and the remastered version all in a single button press is really cool. I would like if more remasters of really old games had something like that. I played primarily on the original look.
-Enemy AI is reactive and quirky
-Mission 6: 343 Guilty Spark. The story picks up dramatically and the introduction of the Flood actually makes the game fun instead of mind-numbing.
-The Flood make you have to think a bit more about your positioning so combat becomes more engaging.
Cons:
-Up until Mission 6 the combat is unengaging and repetitive. Hold forward, hold RT, repeat.
-The audio mixing is garbage. Can't hear what characters are saying half the time because the music is blowing it out.
-The Warthog and Scorpion tank
-The game is dark. So dark that it is a pain in the ass. It being that dark doesn’t even serve a purpose until you get to Mission 6. After that point I am much more ok with it but still find it a bit annoying at times. Even with the flashlight.
-A lot of the levels in this are just not good. Most of the game is just copy and pasted hallways which really wouldn't be an issue if there was some sort of consistent waypoint or clear path to take. Unfortunately the waypoints only ever pop up after a certain amount of time spent struggling or if the game purposefully gives you one. They even acknowledge this in the remastered style of the game by putting literal glowing arrows on the floor to show you were to go.
-Mission 7: The Library. How does Bungie decide to follow up the best level in the game? With the fucking worst one. The Library is horrendous. I don't know how they thought this shit was ok. They took some of the biggest issues the game has and bundled into one agonizing experience. Pitch black, never ending copy pasted hallways/rooms, super easy to get lost (mainly on the original version) because it's just one big dark and gray hallway, repetitive, tedious, and lasts far too long. Does it do a good job showing the overwhelming scale of the Flood and why they are such a threat? Yeah. Is it miserable to play? Also yeah.
I believe that had I played this growing up it would be one of my favorite games. But playing it for the first time in 2023 a lot of it dragged. I think that it redeemed itself quite a bit in the second half but still suffered from the same issues. Unfortunately, the final section being a timed Warthog run left my final emotions toward Halo: CE being those of incredible frustration.
Pros:
-The music is the real star of the show here. Whenever it came on during the first half of the game it managed to trick me into thinking I was playing an actually engaging game.
-Being able to swap between the original look of Halo CE and the remastered version all in a single button press is really cool. I would like if more remasters of really old games had something like that. I played primarily on the original look.
-Enemy AI is reactive and quirky
-Mission 6: 343 Guilty Spark. The story picks up dramatically and the introduction of the Flood actually makes the game fun instead of mind-numbing.
-The Flood make you have to think a bit more about your positioning so combat becomes more engaging.
Cons:
-Up until Mission 6 the combat is unengaging and repetitive. Hold forward, hold RT, repeat.
-The audio mixing is garbage. Can't hear what characters are saying half the time because the music is blowing it out.
-The Warthog and Scorpion tank
-The game is dark. So dark that it is a pain in the ass. It being that dark doesn’t even serve a purpose until you get to Mission 6. After that point I am much more ok with it but still find it a bit annoying at times. Even with the flashlight.
-A lot of the levels in this are just not good. Most of the game is just copy and pasted hallways which really wouldn't be an issue if there was some sort of consistent waypoint or clear path to take. Unfortunately the waypoints only ever pop up after a certain amount of time spent struggling or if the game purposefully gives you one. They even acknowledge this in the remastered style of the game by putting literal glowing arrows on the floor to show you were to go.
-Mission 7: The Library. How does Bungie decide to follow up the best level in the game? With the fucking worst one. The Library is horrendous. I don't know how they thought this shit was ok. They took some of the biggest issues the game has and bundled into one agonizing experience. Pitch black, never ending copy pasted hallways/rooms, super easy to get lost (mainly on the original version) because it's just one big dark and gray hallway, repetitive, tedious, and lasts far too long. Does it do a good job showing the overwhelming scale of the Flood and why they are such a threat? Yeah. Is it miserable to play? Also yeah.
I believe that had I played this growing up it would be one of my favorite games. But playing it for the first time in 2023 a lot of it dragged. I think that it redeemed itself quite a bit in the second half but still suffered from the same issues. Unfortunately, the final section being a timed Warthog run left my final emotions toward Halo: CE being those of incredible frustration.